Bangladeshi blogger hospitalized after being stabbed

New
York, January 15, 2013--Authorities in Bangladesh must immediately investigate Monday's
stabbing of a blogger in Dhaka, determine the motive, and bring the
perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Three
unidentified men attacked Asif Mohiuddin, 29, as he left his office in Uttara
district, and stabbed him several times in the neck and back, according to news
reports. The journalist sought treatment at a local hospital, where he
remains in critical condition.

Mohiuddin's
Bengali-language blog,
called "Almighty only in name, but impotent in reality," is one of the most
visited Web pages in Bangladesh, according to a report
by Agence France-Presse. News reports said that Mohiuddin, who identifies as an
atheist, frequently criticized religion on his blog. Bangladesh is 90 percent
Muslim, and Islam is its state religion. The blogger's writings also included
news stories and commentaries on free speech and human rights issues.

Mohiuddin
has also faced official harassment in the past. In October 2011, police
arrested and abused him in connection with his blog posts that they said caused
student protests against fee hikes at a nearby university, news reports said. Mohiuddin
was detained for 18 hours and told to stop writing, the reports said. Mohiuddin
said he had been blindfolded, starved, and kept awake, news reports said. He
also said police had asked him to sign a statement saying he would not post to
blogs or social media from then on.

Police
told local news website bdnews24 that
they were not aware of Monday's attack on Mohiuddin, but that they would
investigate.

"We
condemn this attack on Asif Mohiuddin and call on authorities to fully
investigate and ensure the perpetrators brought to justice," said CPJ Deputy
Director Robert Mahoney.

CPJ
has documented
a serious assault and a journalist murder in 2012. In May, Fazlur Rahman, a correspondent
of the Bengali-language daily Samakal, was hospitalized after being
attacked by men with machetes. In June, unidentified assailants stabbed
and killed Jamal Uddin, a reporter for the Bengali-language daily Gramer
Kagoj, at a tea stall in Jessore district.

For
more data and analysis on Bangladesh, visit CPJ's Bangladesh page here.